Method for conditioning internal combustion engines



Jan. 31, 1961 J. w. SHELBURNE METHOD FOR CONDITIONING INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Filed July 26, 1956 R E m P F .H W I M m m w m /D m Mw w M M R 6 Mom MMM H v. m C 5 Es M qws KE m UE AV Av TL I H H NA 5 X M Iv U E P m T E R U B R A R E 1 v M m E V H L 0 5 PRECIPITATOR EXHAUST T/ZHN N SHEf'iWE ATTORNE) ll/IETHOD FOR CONDITIONING INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES John W. Shelburne, 2600 W. Hill St., Hannibal, Mo.

Filed July 26, 1956, Ser. No. 600,260

Claims. (Cl. 134-21) My invention relates to a method for the conditioning of internal combustion engines, and more especially for the removal of gum-like substances, carbon, foreign matter, and residues of combustion from such engines.

Another object of my invention is to remove such materials from the internal combustion engine of an automobile.

A further object of my invention is to remove such materials from the engine proper and to deposit said gum-like substances in the exhaust pipe, in the muflier and in the tail pipe of the automobile.

A still further object of my invention is to condition the internal combustion engine to improve its performance and at the same time to cause the exhaust pipe, the muffler and the tail pipe to be more resistant to rust.

Other and further objects of my invention will appear from an examination of the following specification and from the drawings, wherein; Fig. 1 is a flow diagram showing the steps in the method and process of my invention, and Fig. 2 shows in part perspective one form of apparatus which I employ to carry out the method and process.

It has long been known that the residues of combustion which develop in an internal combustion engine greatly impair the operation and efficiency of the engine. In the early days of the automobile this necessitated the removal of the cylinder head, cleaning and reseating the valves, cleaning the head of the motor and the cylinder head, cleaning the spark plugs, replacing the gaskets and other associated operations requiring the expenditure of considerable time. It was also customary to remove the carburetor and to clean residue and foreign matter from it. In those early days an automobile did not have the important place in our everyday life, such as it has today, and now the owners can little afford to spare the use of their automobile except for a very short time when absolutely necessary.

It has become the practice of owners of automobiles and also the practice of garages and filling stations to make use of certain commercially available solvents, which solvents are added to the gasoline tank, to the oil in the crank-case, or to both. This practice is of some benefit, often of great benefit, in conditioning the engine, at least temporarily. In a short time however the same procedure must be repeated, and such repitition becomes more frequent until the old-time practice of removing the cylinder head eventually becomes necessary. By the employment of my method and apparatus, the first and if not the first treatment than a short followup treatment, avoids later treatments and more important the customary later major over-hauling of the engine.

. Patented Jan. 31, 1961 This is because of certain observations which I have made, and the considerable number of experiments conducted over many years, that my method and apparatus is so successful.

When the solvent is used in the customary manner, the gum-like substances, the carbon, foreign matter and products of combustion generally, are partially dissolved. Further they are relocated, moved around from one part of the carburetor to another, from one part of the cylinder head and the valves to a different location, some leaving by way of the exhaust pipe, muffler and tail pipe, but a considerable portion remaining in the engine. Often it has been so displaced that a noticeable improvement results, that is, until the material moves around again and accumulates at a position to again impair the operation of the engine. It is therefore clear that what must be done is not only to allow the solvent to do its work, but once the gum-like substances and other material have been loosened, they must be withdrawn from the the engine entirely. The way it has been done in the past is to rely upon the exhaust function of the returning piston. As is well known, the paths of suction produced by a piston are like the paths of pressure. Certain paths are followed with each stroke of the piston, and any material which has been loosened would naturally be within those paths. There are many theories about the performance of internal combustion engines; however even with the use of X-rayequipment, there is more unknown than is known. It is quite commonly believed that an automobile which has been driven for some 10,000 miles at a speed of 40 miles per hour, will never perform satisfactorily thereafter when operated at a different constant speed, say 60 miles per hour. Theories have been advanced that the piston travel, the valve travel, the travel of all moving parts is first established over certain limits because of momentum of the parts, and that the new change in the length of travel, however slight, has brought about such non-uniform performance of the parts that efiiciency can not be had. I have discovered however that the variable speeds to which an engine is subjected, the variations in temperature and humidity of the atmosphere, and the variations in the fuel employed with the many different additives found in most fuels today, all are responsible for their part in some manner to cause the formation of such gum-like substances and other foreign matter, and more especially to their being deposited in certain places within the engine where they are harmful. As previously mentioned moving the material around to a new position is no correction which will last.

Having in mind the paths of circulation of such material in the normal operation of the engine and their eventual deposit in certain areas, it becomes necessary to create other and further paths for the travel of such material, so that it will be expelled from the engine, rather than find a new position. This can be done by having some structural change in the confining space, some mechanical departure, a highly impractical expedient. A more practical method to change those paths, and that which I employ, is the use of suction applied to the tail-pipe of the automobile and such suction applied continuously rather than in a pulsating manner, and this together with the other steps to be explained constitutes my improvement in the method employed.

In Fig. l of the drawings I show a block or flow diagram of the method of my invention. At the upper left hand section of the drawing I show the introduction of a solvent to a heater. This heater is necessary to bring the solvent to nearly a state of vaporization. While the solvent is thus being heated the engine should be run at a fast idle, after first having removed the air cleaner from the carburetor. After the solvent has become very hot it is then slowly fed into the carburetor and at the same time or shortly before, the vacuum pump has been started. The flow diagram shows that the solvent passes through all fluid and gas passages of the carburetor, then into the engine proper, to and around the intake valves, the exhaust valves, their push r'o'ds, the cylinder'h'ead and the spark plugs. The foreign material found by the solvent in the carburetor, the intake valves, the exhaust valves, the push rods, the cylinder head and spark plugs, is loosened and cause to flow in paths other those to which it has been accustomed to flow. The normal paths of flow, as determined by the action of the cylinder and the shape of the confining area, are still there and. in addition certain new paths have been established. By the combination of the old and the new paths, most, if not all of the gum-like substances and other foreign material have been put in motion and are expelled through the exhaust valves into the rn'ufiler. Repeating this addition of solvent heated near the point of vaporiza tion, to an engine which is hot, brings immediate and effective action of the solvent. I also start with a solvent which is of relatively light weight, approximately of weight S.A.E., next by solvent or light weight oil of perhaps weight S.A.E., and finally make use of a conditioning or toughening oil having certain properties to put a more lasting coat on the wearing parts. Approximately one pint of each solvent and conditioning oil is used in the process, occupying only a matter of minutes. To confirm the effectiveness of the process, upon removal of the cylinder head it can be observed that all of the gum-like substances and other foreign material have been removed, not relocated, but actually are nowhere in the engine.

From the cylinder head through the exhaust'pipe, the gum-like substances and other foreign matter travels to the mufiler. It is at this point that the gases, mostly burnt, have their first opportunity toex pan'd, they then being in a relatively enlarged area and lose some of their velocity. It is here that some of the gum-like substances remain; the velocity having beeii lowered they coat the inside of the muffler. Those which arecarried onto the tail pipe, and most of them are, findingtha't the inner surface of the tail pipe is of relatively lower temperature, remain there. The substances, mostly heavy sludge remaining together with very light substances that are not necessarily of adhesive character, that have not remained in the mufller and tail pipe, are carried out of the automobile altogether. The heavy sludge goes into a container, the lighter material going to a precipitator then to the exhaust of the auxiliary equipment. The precipitator may take many forms, electrical, thermal or chemical, all well known in the art of smoke and fume elimination.

The physical structure of an embodiment to carry oilt the aforementioned method is shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings. The apparatus is shown in part perspective and comprises an upright metal tube 1, which is removably positioned in a standard 2 for vertical positioning. Standard 2 is in the form of an inverted cone, the base 2b being weighted. The neck of the cone is represented by the reference character 2a, this being'a collar encircling tube 1 yet allowing tube 1to be lifted therefrom and from base or standard 2. The space within standard 2 is the receptacle for the heavy sludge to be accumulated and by removal of pipe 1, the standard 2 may be inverted and the sludge removed. The lower end-of pipe 1 is slotted by a cut out portion 3 to allowthe sludge to be deposited. Mounted on pipe 1 is a suction device 4 resembling a part of a vacuum cleaner, it being driven by a motor 5 or any suitable means of motive power. The intake side of suction device 4 has attached thereto the tube 10 which has two orifices 10a and 10b respec tively which can be attached to automobiles having two exhaust and tail pipes. When a single connection only is required, a stopper 11 may be inserted in either orifice not being used. The exhaust side of suction device 4 has connected thereto a tube 6 which is also connected to tube 1 by means of nipple 7. An alternative connection of tube 6 is to precipitator 8' this being connected likewise to pipe 1. As mentioned heretofore, precipitator 8 can take many forms but is shown here as merely a place of enlarged area where particles carried by the air stream are certain to lose some'of their velocity and drop within pipe 1 and to the bottom thereof in standard 2. In either event, whethet the material is introduced into pipe 1 at nipple 7 or by way of precipitator 8, the inside diameter of pipe 1 is considerably larger than that of either pipe 10 or pipe 6, and the gases lose considerable velocity upon entering pipe 1. As they hit the inside wall of pipe 1, the'heavy sludge hitting at nearly a right angle falls to the bottom of pipe 1. To assist the precipitation of the heavy sludge it is possible to employ a heat exchanger, either hot or cold, heated by any known means, and cooled by a blast of air from an air compressor. Such a representative heat exchanger is shown as a vessel 12 having inlet and outlet nipples 13 and 14-. With most of the material precipitated the remaining gases of the exhaust may be liberated to the atmosphere without undue pollution thereof. In cities and closely inhabited areas this is most important.

In the method I have outlined an important step to be followed is to maintain the vacuum device operating in advance of the normal exhaust from the engine. In other words, for a great part of the time the suction device 4 is actually pulling against dead or unopened surfaces. With increased suction when such surfaces are opened, such as the valves opening, the onrush of the material to be removed is given increased acceleration. Another important feature of my invention is that it is possible to make use of solvents which otherwise could not be used, solvents which are highly effective to remove certain gum-like and other substances which can not be presently used because of their attack on the metals, and by methods heretofore used would remain and otherwise would be destructive.

What I claim is:

l. A method for conditioning internal combustion engines by removing certain gums and other residues of combustion, comprising the steps of heating a solvent, removing the air-cleaner from the carburetor, running the engine at a fast idle, attaching a suction device to the tail-pipe, mufiler and exhaust pipe of said engine, operating said suction device at a speed to create a suction normally moving the exhaust gases and residues at a speed greater than they would normally move, slowly applying said solvent so heated to the air-intake of the carburetor, heating a second solvent having heavier weight than the first mentioned solvent, and lastly applying said second mentioned solvent to the intake manifold of said carburetor.

2. A method for cleaning the residues of combustion from an internal combustion engine comprising the steps of heating a solvent, removing the air cleaner from the carburetor, attaching a suction device to the exhaust from said engine, running said engine at a fast idle speed, running said suction device at a speed to accelerate the movement of combustion materials from said exhaust at a speed greater than their normal movement, and the final step of gradually feeding said solvent to the air intake passage of said carburetor.

3. A method of removing residues of combustion from internal combustion engines comprisingt-he steps of applying a suction device to the exhaust from said engine and operating said suction device at a speed to cause increased velocity of such residues of combustion from the exhaust, running the engine -at a fast idle speed, and slowly adding a solvent to the fuel intake of said engine.

4. A method of removing residues of combustion from an internal combustion engine comprising the steps of running said engine, applying a suction device to the exhaust from said engine and operating said suction device at a speed to cause increased velocity of such residues from the exhaust over the velocity normally obtaining in the running of said internal combustion engine.

5. A method of removing residues of combustion from an internal combustion engine comprising the steps of running said engine producing externally of said engine proper a suction in the exhaust from said engine, said suction being of a constant nature and exerting force continuously from the exhaust valves of said engine.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,584,505 Bevins May 11, 1926 2,201,773 Hofele May 21, 1940 2,251,988 Curran Aug. 12, 1941 2,366,073 Vallerie Dec. 26, 1944 2,610,701 Goldberg et a1. Sept. 16, 1952 2,666,497 Weber Jan. 19, 1954 

5. A METHOD OF REMOVING RESIDUES OF COMBUSTION FROM AN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE COMPRISING THE STEPS OF RUNNING SAID ENGINE PRODUCING EXTERNALLY OF SAID ENGINE PROPER A SUCTION IN THE EXHAUST FROM SAID ENGINE, SAID SUCTION BEING OF A CONSTANT NATURE AND EXERTING FORCE CONTINUOUSLY FROM THE EXHAUST VALVES OF SAID ENGINE. 